My Mall Limassol, the largest shopping mall in Cyprus, is open for business. Located in Zakaki, at the northwest entrance to Limassol, the megamall features 150 retail stores, eating destinations and even a full size skating rink for those days when you just can't bare the thought of going to the beach.
Other news
Surfing for free: The Gazi district now has free high speed wireless internet service. Other areas in Greece with free wi-fi include Syntagma Square, Kotzia Square and the Thissio commons.
I Hate Valentines Day opens today: The movie is directed by and stars, Nia Vardalos. NYT Review
centerville cape cod
united states
Greeks looking to travel to the U.S may soon be able to do so without the hassle of applying for a visa. Last weekend, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg signed two agreements that put the two countries on a path for waiving the current requirements by year end.
Currently all but five EU-member countries citizens are rquired to apply for visas. In addition to Greece, the other exceptions are Poland, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria.
In other news
The shame game: Is the tide turning against Britain? ...via Guardian
Call for service: AHEPA calls on all Greek-Americans to get involved. ...via HNA
posted on Thursday, July 2
Greece's new law banning smoking goes into effect today.
posted on Wednesday, July 1
The 56 countries of the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, met in Corfu the past few days to discuss various issues including reevaluating diplomatic ties with Russia after last years confrontation with Georgia and broader security and immigration issues facing the OSCE.
Greece, being the current rotating president of the organization, was also able to discuss some domestic issues including:
- Problem of illegal immigration into Greece
- The Cyprus Issue
- Tensions in the Aegean
- Efforts to secure visa free travel to the US.
US Secretary of State was not able to attend the summit due to her arm injury but US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg seemed to addressed all the domestic issues that Greece had brought to the table.
OSCE 2009 Corfu
Other Greek Related News:
-Athens has unveiled a new 15 euro tourist ticket which will enable tourists to use unlimited trips on the city's public transportation system, including travel to and from the airport and a ride along the city's new tourist bus. The ticket has a life span of three days and will be issued starting July 1.
-The Hellenic Foundation of Culture and the Greek community of Trieste (Italy) are hosting a Greek cinema tribute as part of the larger International Festival Maremetraggio. The festival runs until July 4.
-The United States has its new Greek ambassador. Vassilis Kaskarellis has been appointed the new Greek ambassador to the country. Born in Athens, Kaskarellis graduated from the universities of Athens and Thessaloniki, where he studied Economic and Political Sciences, as well as Law.
posted on Tuesday, June 30
Two buildings slated for demolition at the footsteps of the new Acropolis museum may have gotten a ray of hope this past week. The fate of the two buildings on Areopagitou street, which survived the demolition blitz that went through the city in the 1960s and 1970s, have been a hot topic with the Acropolis museum opening. Many feel the building should be preserved. Others say they need to go because they block the view.
One proposal calls for the back of the buildings that face the new Acropolis museum be used as a mural to showcase to visitors what the view would be like without the buildings there through a large screen. Interesting idea, but we can't imagine the homeowners going along.
Click here to read more...
Join the Facebook page here...
Other Greek related news:
- A woman living in Oregon of the United States is in a bitter custody battle with her husband over their son which was taken to Greece.
- A series of small earthquakes rocked Santorini over the weekend, but there were no words of injuries or damage. The largest quake measured about 5.1 on the Richter Scale.
- The New York Times this past week had an excellent article on the city of Kavala in northern Greece. Pictures from the write-up here.
posted on Monday, June 29
Rockwave Festival is here! If you're in an around Athens this weekend, make sure to snag a ticket and head to Malakassa, a few miles outside of Athens. The music lineup this year includes performances by Moby, The Killers, Mötley Crüe among others.
The festival's history begins back in 1995, but it had its popularity spread since 2004. The festival's location was constantly being changed until 2004, when event park TerraVibe Park, located in Attica, became the permanent host of the festival.
rockwave festival
posted on Friday, June 26
The St. Augustine Visitors and Convention Bureau (Florida, USA) is celebrating the 23rd annual Greek Landing Day this weekend. The event recognizes the 241st anniversary of the arrival of the first colony of Greeks in North America. Hundreds of Greeks, Menorcans and Corsicans arrived in St. Augustine on June 26, 1768 and went on to establish the New Smyrna Colony. The St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine is a living memorial to the first Greek settlers on the American continent and to all the Greek Orthodox pioneers.
St. Photios
posted on Friday, June 26
Anyone who has turned on a television, radio or has browsed the internet the past ten days could not have missed the news of the upheaval in Iran after their national elections last week. After days of protests by citizens, the Iranian government began a intense crackdown on anyone protesting the legitimacy of the election and also began rounding up foreign journalists, who Iranian authorities accuse of leaking out the information of the upheaval abroad. (Iran has been on a virtual media blackout since the night the election results came out.)
One reporter that has been detained is 30 year old Greek reporter Iason Athanasiadis, a free lance writer for several Greek, US and international publications. His whereabouts are currently unknown. His parents have pleaded for his release.
Do you think foreign governments should take a stronger role in supporting the protesters in their uprising or should they not meddle with a sovereign country's affairs?
Athanasiadis' website.
posted on Wednesday, June 24
After years of a thaw in Greek Turkish relations, two big issues are increasing tensions again between the two neighbors. The first issue, one that has been ongoing for years but is becoming more aggressive with time is the constant air violations of Turkish war planes over Greek territorial space, including that of inhabited small islands. Turkey maintains that it is flying in international waters, but Greece has complained that the Turkish war planes are flying at lower altitudes and more often over inhabited islands. The mock dog fights between the two countries in the air is common place.
A second and touchy issue deals with immigration. Turkey is the jumping point for tens of thousands of migrants trying to reach the shores of the Greek islands to make their way through Europe. Greece complains that Turkey turns a blind eye to the smuggling and the immigration, often not taking back immigrants that Greece intercepts. More than 146,000 illegal immigrants were intercepted just last year. WOW.
Do you think that the relations between Turkey and Greece has hit a standstill?
MSNBC
posted on Tuesday, June 23
S(clxgo5253ndik0bzqqwjtsug))/Images/DF/back_arrow.gif "Previous Stories")
S(clxgo5253ndik0bzqqwjtsug))/Images/DF/forward_arrow.gif "Next Stories")